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List of scientific errors
Despite being a documentary series, several paleontological inaccuracies appear throughout some of the shows. A lot of them are caused by new discoveries. Here's a list of them. '' Walking With Dinosaurs Pilot *Eustreptospondylus'' was somewhat too lizard-like. *''Eusterptospondylus'' was not particularly fast among theropods. *''Cetiosaurus'' had many errors, far too long neck, misshaped head, etc. *A piscivorous pterosaur couldn't have yellow colors, so red would have been a better choice. ''Walking With Dinosaurs: Inside Their World *Most ceratopsians had quills protruding from their backs, and evidence was found on ''Psittacosaurus and ''Triceratops.'' *''Microraptor'' and Archaeopteryx are now known to have been black in color, thanks to fossilized melanosomes. *The dinosaurs featured in this app have pronated hands, something that isn't scientifically true. ''Walking with Dinosaurs New Blood *Coelophysis'' probably didn't feed on live and healthy Placerias. *''Coelophysis'' had sexual dimorphism, unlike the ones in the show, which were all the same. *There is no conclusive evidence that Coelophysis was cannibalistic. This was based on a fossil of Coelophysis with jumbled up bones in its stomach cavity, but these turned out to be species of small crocodiles, rather than the juveniles they were long mistaken to be. *Carnivores like Coelophysis and Postosuchus are almost never green. This is because colour, other then black, rufous, white, brown, grey, and a few similar colours are obtained by pigment, other colours depend on diet. This applies to many other carnivores from the other episodes as well. *''Placerias'' were probably not hippo-like. *''Postosuchus'' may have been bipedal. *Archosaurs generally don't mark territory's with urine, unlike the male Postosuchus ''in the show. *Thrinaxodon'' was from the early Triassic, not the late. Note that there is some non-mammalian cynodont material, similar to Thrinaxodon from the petrified woods, which could belong to it. *''Plateosaurus'' couldn't move in a quadruple stance. ''Time of the Titans *Ornitholestes'' didn't have a nasal crest. *''Ornitholestes'' almost certainly had feathers. *''Diplodocus'' held it's neck in a slightly higher position then shown in the series. *There is no evidence for such an egg laying structure in Diplodocus. *''Anurognathus'' were microbat-like insectivores, and did not behave like modern Oxpeckers. It's anatomy is also very inconsistent with the real animal, with a typically elongated neck, deep skull and small wings. ''Cruel Sea *Liopleurodon'' wasn't even half the size shown in the show. It wasn't 25 m long and 150 t, but more like 6-10 m and 5-8 t, the size of an orca. There was evidence of pliosaur bite marks that indicate an animal 25 m long, but it's unlikely that the attacker was a Liopleurodon. *There is no evidence that Ophthalmosaurus migrated towards coasts to give birth. *''Cryptoclidus'' couldn't go on land. *Recently, a study of a few ichthyosaurs, Tylosaurus, and an extinct sea turtle, indicate they where mostly black in colour. This doesn't mean that they where completely black, or that other non-detected colours wheren't there. It also doesn't directly involve Opthalmosaurus. *''Rhamphorhynchus'' lacks many skeletal features required for a skim feeder. *The shape of the lower jaw is slightly off (Rhamphorhynchus). *''Rhamphorhynchus'' was most likely nocturnal. *''Rhamphorhynchus'' had longer wings. ''Giant of the Skies *The giant pterosaur is actually ''Tropeognathus, not Ornithocheirus. *''Tropeognathus'' had a wingspan of only 7-8.2 m (23-27 ft) max. *There is no evidence that Tropeognathus traveled the globe. *Tapejarids where herbivores/frugivores. *Tapejarids are depicted with ornithocheirid-like limb proportions, with massive forelimbs and short hindlimbs, offering them a cumbersome terrestrial gait. In reality, these pterosaurs, like most azhdarchoids, had longer hindlimbs and shorter wings (albeit still obviously much larger than the hindlimbs), allowing them to be effective terrestrial foragers. *The “''Tapejara''” might actually be a species of Tupandactylus, or it's own genus. *Sexual dimorphism isn't documented in Tapajarids. *Tapejarids lived inland, not on the coast. *The walking pose of the all the pterosaurs are far off. *The N. American “''Iguanodon''” is now known as Dakotadon. *The European form is probably based on material now referred to Barrilium ''(This isn't confirmed, it may actaully be Iguanodon'' proper''.). *''Barrilium's thumb claw isn't that big. *''Iberomesornis'' has modern bird traits not found in Enantiornithes, like scaly feet (instead of owl-like feathered feet or even Microraptor-like hindwings) and retrices (Meaning it should have these features.). *''Utahraptor'' wasn't found in Europe. *''Utahraptor'' did have feathers running head to toe to tail; only the tip of the snout was visible. It even had wings. Additionally, it was impossible for the hands to be pronated without being broken. They held them at the side. The same errors are for Velociraptor (see below). *There is no good evidence that dromaeosaurids where pack hunters. *A paper is being written that will cause many more errors for the WWD dromaeosaurid. *''Polacanthus'' isn't known from N. America, only Europe. ''Spirits of the Ice Forest *Leaellynasaura'' had a tail three times it's body length. *There is no evidence that Leaellynasaura could go into a form of hibernation. *''Muttaburrasaurus'' was less hadrosaur like then shown in the show, it was a rhabdodontid. *There is no evidence Muttaburrasaurus where migratory. *It's unlikely that Australovenator was an allosaurid, though an allosauroid is likely. ''Death of a Dynasty *Dromaeosaurus'' has the same mistakes as Velociraptor and Utahraptor as well as 2 additional ones. The head is too blocky and stout and they died out 72,000,000 BCE, not 66,036,000 BCE (the show says it's 65,500,000 BCE). (Also there was a different dromeosaurid, Acheroraptor, which lived in Hell Creek.). *''Torosaurus'' and Triceratops may have been omnivores. *They also may have been one and the same species of dinosaur but of a different age. *''Torosaurus'' might not have lived in herds. *Many aspects of T. rex mating behavior in the show where speculation. *In WWD, T. rex has been depicted as a solitary creature. However, Phil Currie has found some evidence supporting that tyrannosaurids hunted in packs. *Tyrannosaurs are depicted featherless. In reality, they almost certainly had feathers when they were very young. *WWD has a few mild inaccuracies for the animal (T. rex): T. rex's hands should be facing inwards, not downwards. The rear teeth, legs, and tail also seem a little shorter. T. rex ''is depicted as being 5 tonnes, but specimens 8-10 tonnes are not uncommon. But [http://walkingwith.wikia.com/wiki/The_Complete_Guide_To_Prehistoric_Life ''The Complete Guide To Prehistoric Life] seems to have corrected these mistakes. *''T. rex'' is now known to have extremely powerful muscles in its neck and jaws; combined with its teeth that made its bite deadly. *Evidence that female rexes were bigger than males isn't solid anymore. *The head of Tyrannosaurus is just very slightly too blocky. *"Anatotitan" is now known as Edmontosaurus annectens. It also lacks a fleshy crest akin to that of a rooster on its head. However, this is a relatively new discovery. *''Deinosuchus'' was extinct by this time. *We now know that the eyes of smaller ornithopods are pronounced in a way that makes them look angry. This feature is also seen in eagles and angry cartoons.{Needs citation} *There are multiple inaccuracies for Quetzalcoatlus: The head is bigger and has a large flat crest instead of a tiny notch at the back of the head. They also shoulnd't have teeth and the neck is much, much, longer than the program's design. In a nutshell, the WWD, Quetzalcoatlus looks more like a badly misshapen mutant and is widely regarded as one of the worst depictions of the animal in any modern reconstructions (Ironically, it looks very much like another pterosaur, Ludodactylus.) ''Walking with Beasts New Dawn *Gastornis may have been herbivorous, but this was not known at the time. *''Eurotamandua is depicted as an actual tamandua, when it was a rather bizarre mammal of possible afrothere affinities. ''Whale Killer * ''Andrewsarchus is depicted as a mesonychid, when it was a more entelodont-like artiodactyl. ''Land of Giants *Hyaenodon'' is said to have bone crushing jaws. In real life, they were for shearing rather than crushing. ''Next of Kin *It is unlikely ''Australopithecus afarensis could scare off large chalicotheres. ''Sabre-Tooth * ''Phorusrhacos did not have wing claws. ''Mammoth Journey *The Neanderthal was not the last survivor of the genus ''Homo, besides humans: the highly debated[[ Homo floresiensis|'' Homo'' floresiensis]] was. ''Walking with Cavemen *Some paleanthropologists believe the African ''H. heidelbergensis is merely an archaic form of modern humans. *Some paleanthropologists do not recognize H. ergaster and Homo erectus as separate species. Even if they were separate, some believe H. erectus did survive and evolved into the highly controversial Homo floresiensis. ''Walking with Monsters Water Dwellers *There is no evidence for ''Cephalaspis ''swimming into fresh water to lay eggs. *Brontoscorpio'' lived at a different time then Cephalaspis, one in the Silurian, the other in the Devonian. *''Pterygotus'' was probably not the largest sea scorpion of all time. ''Reptile's Beginnings *In the series, ''Petrolacosaurus is incorrectly identified as an ancestral synapsid, when in fact, it was an early diapsid and could therefore not have been the ancestor of any synapsids (e.g. Edaphosaurus). Futhermore, it is stated that the Dimetrodon was a reptile, when in fact, it was a synaspid. Futhermore, the most basal synapsid, Archaeothyris, would have been a more suitable candidate. *The Dimetrodon ''hatchlings are shown with their back sails fully erect, when they probably wouldn't have grown yet. *The skin texture of ''Edaphosaurus and Dimetrodon are slightly off. ''Clash of Titans *Diictodon, ''Gorgonops and the Rhinesuchus are only known from South Africa, yet in episode 3 they are portrayed living with Scutosaurus, which have only been found in Siberia, However, since the continents were all connected at the time it is conceivable that Gorgonops could have lived in Russia too, but there is no evidence for this. *''Euparkeria'' is not an ancestor of the dinosaurs, being basal to crocodile-dinosaur split. ''Chased by Dinosaurs *Velociraptor'' may not have lived in heavily forested areas. All of the sites where Velociraptor fossils were found suggest that the animal lived in sandy, arid environments with many sand dunes (with one specimen apparently being smothered to death by a sand dune). *''Velociraptor lacks feathers. All Dromaeosaurids/Raptors had pennaceous feathers running from head to to to tail. It even had wings. *Giganotosaurus'' was depicted on the show as the largest carnivorous dinosaur, though current size estimates favor Spinosaurus. *''Argentinosaurus'' is said to have been the biggest dinosaur. That record may actually belong to poorly known forms such as Amphicoelias fragilimus ''or ''Puertasaurus reuli. *''Velociraptor's '' claw could not disembowel prey because the underside was round. ''Sea Monsters ''{Under construction} ''Intro'' *Same issues with Velociraptor ''as seen above. *''Velociraptor ''was unlikely to live that close to the sea. *A few mild-ish inaccuracies with the ''Tarbosaurus. ''Ordovician'' *Some "Sea scorpions" could go on land only for short intervals, and eat washed up carcasses. *Mild time map issues, see below. ''Devonian'' *Thrre's no evidence Dunkleosteus was a cannibal. ''Triassic'' *''Tanystropheus'' was an archosauromorph, they can't shed tails in defence. *''Tanystropheus's ecological niche is unresolved. ''Jurassic *''Leedsicthys' size is grossly exaggerated. In reality, it was 8-17 m and 25 t rather than the 27 m and ~100 t in the show. ''Cretaceous *''Pteranodon'' is now thought to be a diving creature, swimming to catch fish like a gannet. ''Eocene'' ''Pliocene'' *''Megalodon'' was depicted a little bit too similar to modern day great whites. *There's no evidence juveniles would live in the undergrowth. ''Time map'' *Creatures have the same issues as described in their respective sections (See above). *Time periods of planet earth go much farther back then the Ordovician, but this was probably an artistic choice, as Nigel didn't go any farther back then this. *''Basilosaurus'' should be a bit farther back. *The Cenozoic section should be a bit bigger. Category:Lists